Israel headlines: Chanukah as ‘deja vue all over again’

Tuvia Brodie, 03/12/13 11:12

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צילום: ערוץ 7

Tuvia Brodie

Tuvia Brodie has a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh under the name Philip Brodie. He has worked for the University of Pittsburgh, Chatham College and American Express. He and his wife made aliyah in 2010. All of his children have followed. He believes in Israel's right to exist. He believes that the words of Tanach (the Jewish Bible) are meant for us. His blog address is http://tuviainil.blogspot.com He usually publishes 3-4 times a week on his blog and 1-3 times at Arutz Sheva. Please check the blog regularly for new posts.

In today’s news cycle, we see a repeat of the original Chanukah story.

Remember the original? A foreign super-power (Greece) joins with both a regional entity (Syria) and Jews (in Israel) to destroy all that is Jewish in Israel. The goal was simple: turn Israel into a non-Jewish country.

Today’s Chanukah headlines (Chanukah for 2013 runs from November 28 – December 5) suggest a similar plot: a foreign super-power (America) joins with a regional entity (Arab ‘Palestinians’) and Leftist Jews (in Israel and abroad) to push Israel into a ‘peace’ with those whose goal is to wipe Israel off the map.

While each of these three ‘actors’ claim to have distinct reasons for pressuring Israel, the practical consequence of all those efforts looks to be the same: no more Jewish state.

The Arab war against Israel has taken no Chanukah holiday. It pushes forward. Arabs call for violent uprisings. Jews are attacked in-and-around Jerusalem. Some 250,000 Palestinian Authority (PA) Arabs sign a “convention” calling for no peace compromise with Israel. PA officials call out that Jews who ascend the Temple Mount ‘defile’ the Mount (which they call, ‘al aqsa’). Arabs beat Jews who ascend to the Temple Mount. Muslims hack into an Israeli Jewish Charity and put onto the site words which say, "We demand the return of Palestine [i.e., all of Israel],” alongside "Allah is the one god", as well as "We will kill everything Jews love.”

These are not the words and actions of peace. Nevertheless, it is Israel which the US pressures for ‘peace’. Does this Arab behaviour suggest peace to you?

America and Israel

-U.S. rejects Israeli criticism, says not avoiding confrontation with Iran at any cost

- Netanyahu: I will not 'shut up' on warnings against Iran

-US Calls Netanyahu 'Desperate and Weak'

-Washington Post Critical of Iran-West Deal

-Israelis distrust Iran deal but overwhelmingly value alliance with US

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The US has wrapped up a deal with Iran. Isn’t that wonderful? The US is pleased. It boasts that Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been thwarted by negotiations. Israel, we infer, was completely wrong to ‘talk tough’. Instead of using a military attack to convince Iran to stop its weaponizing plans, we have achieved peace through diplomacy.

We can see from the headlines above how the US and Israel carp at each other over this deal: last week, the US response to Netanyahu’s criticism was to tell Netanyahu to ‘give it a break’; now, Netanyahu says he ‘won’t shut up.’ The US rejects Israel’s criticism. US officials announce that Netanyahu’s ‘noise’ reveals him to be ‘weak’ and ‘desperate.’

The US looked strong and aggressive against the bothersome Israel. The US was strong—until it got hammered by The Washington Post.

According to a Post editorial, the Iran deal was not what the US had said it was (oopps). The Post wrote that the deal made too many major concessions to Tehran (oopps). For example, while White House officials and Secretary of State John F. Kerry have repeatedly stated that Iran’s assertion of a ‘right to enrich’ uranium would not be recognized in an interim deal, the text actually says the ‘comprehensive solution’ will involve an Iranian enrichment program (oooppps). Then, a long-standing U.S. demand that an underground enrichment facility be closed was not even mentioned (ooopps again). Worst of all, the editorial pointed out, “Obama and other U.S. officials have spoken about a six-month time frame for completing negotiations”; but the agreement actually says the six-month arrangement can be renewed ‘by mutual consent’ (oopps)--the parties actually aim to conclude negotiating and commence implementing oversight in as much as a year after signing.

That would give the Iranians another year to build a bomb (oopps).

Are the Americans incompetent—or does this deal suggest something other than incompetence?

Iran

-Video: Ex-CIA Chief: We've Accepted Iranian Enrichment

-Report: Israel Looking for Proof that Iran is Violating Deal

-Netanyahu: I Will Not Be Silenced When Israel is in Danger

- Rouhani: Iran to start constructing 2nd nuclear plant in Bushehr

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Now that the Iran deal has been completed, Iran loses no time letting the ink dry: it announces the construction of another nuclear facility. Last week, it had announced that the deal had ‘enshrined’ their right to enrich. Now, they make another ‘nuclear’ declaration just as former CIA-chief Michael Hayden is quoted on video as saying, “At the end of the day, Iran is going to be a nuclear threshold state…There's no question about that."

The Iranian take on all of this was, the air in the international arena was now ‘less tense’.

The US has called Netanyahu weak because he has been speaking out about this deal. You can now see why the Prime Minister has spoken so harshly.

Who looks weak here, Israel—or the US?

The Left’s war against Israel

- Olmert: Netanyahu Should Not Alienate the US

- 'Olmert Thinks Israel is America's Slave'

- Herzog to Push Netanyahu to Make Concessions to PA

- Left-wing leader calls to eliminate authority of Chief Rabbinate

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The final player in the anti-Israel Chanukah story is the Jew-hating Jew who joins with the other two players to destroy Israel. We saw this behaviour during the original Chanukah story; we see it all over again today.

To the Jew-hating Jew, religion has no place in Israel. Any action that will reduce, constrict or eliminate religion in Israel is a positive; anything that assists religion in Israel is a blot on Israel.

To the Jew-hating Jew, Jewish ancestral homeland does not belong to Jews. It belongs to Arabs.

To the Jew-hating Jew, Jews do not come to Israel to fulfil the call of the Bible. They come to colonize and exploit the Arab as part of a European, white imperialism designed to control the natural resources and culture of the local non-white population.

The rationale for each of these three ‘players’ is not the same as we find in the original story. But the practical consequences are the same: the dejudaization of the world’s only Jewish state.